HAVERHILL, MA – While many restaurants and eateries in the Merrimack Valley are suffering from the Massachusetts economy with lack of customers and high prices, Billy Griffin and Scott Brandolini are having the opposite problem.
“Monday this week we had to take the phones off the hook,” Griffin told The Valley Patriot.
“We are getting slammed on days when some places aren’t even open for business. It’s really unbelievable how this community has rallied around the new Brando’s. I never could have predicted this when Scott and I decided to reopen a few months ago.”
HISTORIC EATERY
Brando’s was originally opened in the 1990s near the falls in Lawrence by the Brandolini family and eventually opened several sandwich shops across the valley including Haverhill.
“I used to work for Scott’s grandfather Dick Brandolini, when the original Brando’s was open,” Griffin continued.
“He eventually let me open my own Brando’s in the year 2000 and he never charged me a franchise fee. He just said, ‘don’t bring shame on the family name and do a good business.’”
Griffin says that more recently Dicky’s grandson Scott was operating in the old Brando’s location in Haverhill as “Hard Body Meals” doing prepared protein meals for local gyms.
“I was selling fridges and restaurant equipment, and over the years Scott and I had become friends. So, after COVID hit, he decided to close down ‘Hard Body Meals’ and asked if I wanted to buy back my restaurant equipment, or if I knew anyone who was opening a new shop that would be interested.”
“That’s when we started talking about working together to bring back the old historic Brando’s with real veal and Italian sandwiches – that you should really call ‘sang-wiches’ – the way his grandfather used to make them. I thought, let’s make his grandfather proud in heaven.”
“I have to say, I’ve known thousands of people in the food business.
It’s what I’ve done for more than 48 years, and I have never in my life met an Italian chef as good as Scott Brandolini. So, when he said he was ready to make this work I jumped on it.”
Griffin says when they opened their doors a few weeks ago with no marketing, no website, and no Facebook page “just on word of mouth alone, this thing shot off into the stratosphere!”
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO
Griffin owns several other food businesses all over the Merrimack Valley and was the house caterer for the Haverhill Country Club for years, as well as owning Griffin Catering. He also owns Affordable Restaurant Equipment in Haverhill, where he buys and sells food trucks, kitchen equipment, trailers, does restaurant consulting, and even helps new eateries design their restaurant layout and inventory ordering.
Those who spend time at Salisbury Beach may have run into Billy at ‘Beach Bums’ right in the center of the strip.
“I love that place,” he says. “It’s a walk-up seaside restaurant known for the pizza, fried dough, lobster rolls, fried seafood all the things you love about the beach. It’s a great place to hang out at the beach, and my favorite part is, there’s always lots of fresh squeezed lemonade. You really can’t go to the beach and not have Beach Bum lemonade!”
HELPING THE HOMELESS
Those who have never met Griffin at Beach Bums or at Brando’s may recognize him in yet another role that he plays in the community, and that’s as one of the main supporters of “The Movement Family” or TMF – a group of volunteers who feed the homeless in Lawrence and help them get needed services and amenities.
“As a food vendor I do lots of festivals,” he explains.
“I was at the Feast of the Three Saints in Lawrence. So, I’m at one of my food trucks when I met Michael Gorman and his whole crew of volunteers. A bunch of young kids with a table, handing out leaflets and talking to people about helping the homeless.”
“They were like fifty feet from where I was selling food, so we struck up a conversation and I invited them over to my truck and fed all of them. It’s not often that anybody’s looking to help the homeless and here was a bunch of kids spending their time trying to do something good. I couldn’t get over it. I have been a fan of TMF ever since!”
Griffin says that the following Wednesday he grabbed a few cases of Sternos from one of his businesses and brought it down the Buckley Garage where TMF serves a pop-up dinner for the homeless every week.
“Michael said that the homeless need them to keep warm at night so it was the least I could do. When I saw with my own eyes the 150 homeless addicts hugging him and thanking his team, I knew this was something really special and I wanted to be a part of it. Now I bring food whenever I can and just do whatever Michael Gorman needs to accomplish his mission of helping those less fortunate.”
Brando’s is located at 612 Broadway in Haverhill.
(978) 891-7466. ◊